CORRESPONDENCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8544, 26 March 1908, Page 5

CORRESPONDENCE.

j . (To the Editor.) Sir, —'The writer was in Auckland last week, and came back by the Main • Trunk railway , route. While away he tfaw small iaraas, near Auckland, Where sorghum saecharatum, a species of sugar-cane, had grown well and proved a most teliabie forage plant for Bulking cows during the long drougfet. Farmers along the coast would probably find it profitable to experiment with an acre or more next season. 'Sh© writer tried it in this way in Auckland with marked success some twenty years ago. All round the "WaikatxH turnips were looking a n dark healthy green, showing good tops from the , train. The soil is for the most part light', ploughable in any season, but requires comparatively frequent fertilising. On Mr Monk's farm, at the base of the sandhills, near Helensville (north of Auckland), a maize plant was fourteen feet high, but others in the same plot were topped at about nine feet. These wer6" all of a table variety. Fodder cropsof maize were seldolh to be seen, and were poor owing to the drought. At Taumaranui, Taonui, and one place between were small patches appearing to be from four to six feet high. Sorghum saecharatum seems to be •„ the most satisfactory for dry seasons. Paspalum dilitatum grass, which forms a thick sod, like twitch grass, seems to stand both dry and wet weather well, but suffers during frost. It seems to be relished by stock of all kinds, and was closely cropped.— F am, etc., A. BUCHANAN. Jersey Holme, Palmerston N.